


The Laundromat at the Corner of the Street

by Adelait



Category: Mamamoo
Genre: Angst, Comedy, F/F, Fluff, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Short & Sweet, Shorts, Sitcom, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 13:35:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18032708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adelait/pseuds/Adelait
Summary: When Solar's 30 year old washing machine suddenly breaks down she's forced to go to the laundromat from now on, obviously against her will.But soon, as she meets a handsome woman with sleek silver hair her laundry trips start to get more exciting. During their 30-Minutes-Program talks the two soon build a friendship, being able to talk to each other about different topics and giving or receiving advice from each other.A collection of stories at the laundromat.





	1. The Laundromat

It's not like there ever was any silence at Solar's apartment, as she'd occasionally put music on to dance on with her dog or watched a new drama that came out with the volume at 100% while fangirling every minute, but today, there was chaos.

 

Her washing machine, that may or may not have been from her grandmother making it 30+ years old, suddenly started spraying water around, washing everything except for her laundry.

Great, Solar thought to herself. She had an important test coming up and she wanted to start studying as soon as possible, but seeing as her place was slowly turning into a pool she first had to deal with that.

It's not the first time that her washing machine acted up. Sometimes the clothes magically came out in a different color, even though there wasn't a single shirt or blouse in the machine with that color. Another time it suddenly shaked so much Solar thought there was an earthquake, but the water-spraying incident was new. Solar decided on saying that the washing machine was cursed.

Anyhow, she had to do something with the laundry, and hand-washing it wasn't an option as Solar had solemnly swore when she was a kid that she'd never do it, not as long as washing machines existed. (Which was just a lame excuse for her just being extremely bad at hand-washing her clothes) And the only place left with washing machines that she could use.. Was the laundromat. Luckily she wouldn't have to stay there for the whole cycle, washing and drying, since her 30 year old dryer still worked perfectly.

For now.

 

Her friends had washing machines too, but Solar had her standards and wasn't planning on barging in with her hands full of laundry. They would probably allow it though, but standards are standards.

She reached for her phone while stepping over the puddles of water that were basically everywhere, to look for a laundromat near her place. And in fact, there was one at the corner of her street.

 

You're probably thinking, "How did she never notice it before if it's at the corner of her street?" Well.

1\. She's Kim Yongsun.

2\. Her street was more of an avenue than a street, and a pretty long one on top of that. The route she took when she went to school was also in the other direction, and there just never was any reason to walk in that direction before.

 

Grabbing a laundry basket she started throwing all her laundry in it, leaving after she threw some cloths on the puddles on her floor. It's water so it will dry up after some time. Probably.

It was already dark outside, which Solar was thankful for as she didn't want to be seen carrying a basket full of laundry in public. And ofcourse, since this day was already perfect with her washing machine crashing and her apartment transforming into a pool, it also had to start raining while she was walking towards the laundromat as a cherry on the cake. The laundry was already wet anyways thanks to her washing machine being posessed by some kind of demon octopus spraying water everywhere, but now her own clothes that she was wearing were also soaked.

And there it was, the Laundromat at the Corner of her Street. Normally, I, as the author, would now give some details with carefully chosen words to give some details about how this placed looked and the special atmosphere and all that stuff, which in fact, I love doing. But, this time I won't.

The place looked straight up dull, not leaving any possibility to sugarcoat it. Pretty much like every other laundromat that exists, with, ofcourse, some exceptions. There were some highly interesting washing machines placed next to each other, with a fantastic coffee machine in the corner on a wooden table with a paper on it saying that the machine's DEFECT, which it probably has been for the past few years, and some amazing high stools that looked like they could fall apart anytime placed around a dull wooden rectangular platform with several words written on it in black marker that served as a table.

Not that a laundromat had to look like a high class restaurant ofcourse, since it's not a restaurant in the first place, but seeing as Solar already wasn't too fond of this whole concept of having to go there the appearance of the laundromat made her even more pissed than before.

As soon as she entered she let out a bigh sigh, brushing her soaked hair back with the palm of her hand.

 

 

"A Laundromat newbie, I take it?" A soft voice said, making her look up at the tall woman in front of her.

 

"Is it that obvious?" Solar said, putting the laundry basket down.

 

"Well seeing as you're soaked from head to toe while carrying your laundry in a laundry basket, yes. Definitely." The woman laughed. She had sleek silver hair, wearing a leather jacket and black skinny jeans. Overall, she looked handsome, Solar thought while starting to sort everything and put it in the machines.

 

"I take it you're a Laundromat expert then?" She said, after starting the washing machine.

 

The woman laughed again. "I sure am. Moonbyul, loyal Laundromat ganger for a few years now. And in case you're wondering, the coffee machine was already defect when I came here for the first time." 

 

I knew it. "Kim Yongsun, call me Solar. About the laundry basket, is it that weird?"

 

"Not exactly, it's just not really convenient is it? And if it suddenly starts to rain, like now, everything gets soaked." Moonbyul said, while throwing a freshly washed towel at Solar to dry her hair. "If your laundry hasn't been done yet it doesn't really mater, but trust me, taking your freshly washed laundry out into the rain hurts your Laundromat heart."

 

"You're laundry obsessed. Anyways, got any tips for me then?" Solar almost saw a little sparkle in the woman's eyes as soon as she said that.

 

"I sure do, Kim Yongsun. Instead of using a laundry basket, use a black garbage bag to take your laundry here. It will keep your clothes from getting soaked, and if you just come here during this time of the day pretty much no one will see you."

 

"A black garbage bag. Seriously, if someone were to see me they'd take me as a hobo."

 

"I didn't say it'd make you look like a celebrity, except for the rest of your face ofcourse, but at least your clothes will stay dry. Don't forget to bring a basket to bring your laundry back home, or else it gets all wrinkled. Plus, it's not like celebrities would go to a Laundromat anyways. They totally should though, it'd be admirable." Okay, she's Laundromat obsessed confirmed, and she's cheesy as hell. It made Solar chuckle though.

 

"Also, you should smell the machines before you use it, trust me." Moonbyul said, making a disgusted face.

 

"What. That's.. Oh my god, that's so gross. Smell it?"

 

"Chill, it's just so you know if someone used bleach the cycle before you. I once put my black laundry in the machine without checking for bleach and boom, everything had stains. It looked pretty modern in a way, but I prefer them just plain black. Don't worry though, not many people come here so there's a small chance of you ever using a machine that people used before, going nuts with the bleach. And, sort before you go." She said when she remembered that Solar was sorting it here a while ago. "Trust me, in case you don't want to spend hours here you should sort everything at your house. The key is speed."

 

'The key is speed. I'll remember that." Solar said, taking mental notes. "About the clothes with the bleach stains. What did you end up doing with them though?"

 

"I tried wearing them, but it made me uncomfortable. A few weeks later when my friends came over one of them suddenly noticed the pile of bleach stained clothes that I put there to throw away later, saying that they looked modern and wondered where I got them from. I just said she could have them since I didn't wear them anyways."

 

This person, seriously. "You gave your friend bleach stained clothes."

 

"I sure did. You should've seen how happy she looked, it reminded me of a puppy being rewarded with a treat. Later on, I told her that the clothes didn't look like that first and that they looked like that due to the bleach though. But, she said it made them unique. I think she even wore one of those shirts last time we met."

 

"Well, she sounds fun? I think my friends would rather laugh at me instead of being impressed by the look of those clothes though." Solar said, imagining how her friends would react.

 

Moonbyul looked at her, like she was shocked by how Solar's friends would react, even though that's probably the way anyone would normally react. "Well, my friends are just awesome then. I guess I'll have to introduce you to them someday." Moonbyul declared, followed by the beeping alarm of the washing machine.

 

"Ah, that's my cue to leave. I have a dryer at home so I only come here to wash my laundry. You'll be here next week too then?"

 

"I sure will. See you next week, Laundromat Expert."

 

"Later, nice meeting you Laundromat Newbie." She said, holding her hand up as a goodbye.

 

 

Maybe having to go to the Laundromat isn't that bad after all.


	2. Guessing

Apparently water doesn't just dry up when you throw some cloths on it and wait for a while.

Solar sadly only found that out once she entered her apartment and saw that her private pool was still there. As she walked past the washing machine the thing suddenly started spraying water around again, right in her face to be specific.

She had to get rid of it as soon as possible. At this point she was already thinking of inviting her friends over for a pool party, she always wanted to have one anyways. But how exactly will she bring it downstairs?

 

The normal answer would be: The elevator. I mean, pretty much every complex has one right? Well, you're right in a way. Sadly it's also very common that even though there's an elevator, they're pretty much always "Not in use". Solar had to bring it down by using the stairs.

She quickly wiped the wet floor with the clothes that were also soaked so not that useful, still not giving up on the idea that it will eventually dry on itself. Afterwards, she unplugged the washing machine, made the hall free for the machine and started pushing.

 

And she didn't stop pushing.

Not even when she reached the chairs, making the machine tumble down, loud crashing sounds disturbing the residents of the complex.It could have gone better seeing that she eventually just had to transport the parts of the washing machine in the end, that didn't survive the stairs incident and fell apart, down to the front door. At least the thing was gone now.

By the time she went back to her apartment the water that was previously all over the floor had magically disappeared. 1 - 0 for Solar!!

 

The rest of the week went by like every other week, except this time Solar had something she looked forward to. She felt stupid for looking forward to a laundromat visit, but it was something she already started to treasure after just one time of visiting. It wasn't that she treasured the laundromat itself ofcourse, more like the Laundromat Obsessed Person that went there.

Solar spend her time reading, watching movies, taking Jjingjjing out on walks or other stuff when she wasn't at college. She was in her last year of school, but it didn't really feel that way honestly. It's not like she really looked forward to graduating either. 

So as I was saying, the week went by quickly. There really wasn't anything special, so I'll save you guys the boring details like when Solar burned her cake she was baking, making her throw water all over the place to extinguish the fire (déjà vu much?), how she accidentally put Jjingjjing in the dryer together with her laundry (He's ok, no worries. Don't do this at home though.), and skip to Sunday, 7 PM.

 

Solar started with putting all her laundry in a black plastic bags that she later put in the laundry basket, following the advice of the women she met that day.

"The key is speed." She said, chuckling a bit.

As she walked towards the Laundromat she let her eyes wander around the avenue-like street. Even though it wasn't that dark outside the lanterns were lit, illuminating a yellow light that created a strange atmosphere. Like one of those Film Noir movies.

Once she arrived at the Laundromat there was no Moonbyul to be seen, yet. Probably due to something that came up and that she has to finish before coming here.

She pushed the heavy door open, put her sorted laundry on the table with all the scribbles on and started the machine after putting her laundry in.

 

5 minutes later a person with silver hair came in, making Solar smile as soon as she saw who it was.

Moonbyul also smiled at Solar, holding some black garbage. Seriously, how was she able to still look handsome while carrying those bags, Solar thought.

"Good evening. I had something to take care off at work, sorry for being late." It's not that she had anything to apologize for, but it made Solar happy as it meant Moonbyul cared about Solar waiting here for her. "And I see you've followed my advice." She said as she saw the black plastic bags Solar had used.

 

"I did. Except for the fact that I looked like a homeless person, it was pretty useful." She admitted. "So, tell me. What job do you do?"

 

"You curious? Well, take a guess."

 

Solar hated guessing games, she truly was terrible at them. "..Professor."

 

Moonbyul laughed. "Wrong, try again."

 

"...Scientist?" She laughed again, making a buzzing sound like the ones you hear in variety shows when someone gives a wrong answer.

 

"Wrong, again. Where do those guesses even come from?"

 

"Well, you kind of look like the intelligent type of person. Plus, a lab coat would suit you." Moonbyul laughed even harder. "Yah! How am I supposed to know??"

 

"Well, I'm flattered but, did you never notice the clothes I bring to wash here?" 

Solar looked at the washing machine, trying to see if there's anything in there, but everything inside just looked like a colored blob.

 

"Ah geez, can't you just tell me?" She said after a while, giving up.

 

"Kim Yongsun. You'd be one shitty detective." Moonbyul scoffed, pointing at the blue thing in the machine. A shirt. "Police officer."

 

Solar just sat there. Mouth wide open. Thinking about wether or not she was kidding or being serious.

"You're kidding."

 

"I'm not. Seriously, how did you never notice this uniform?"

 

"I don't look at other people their laundry? Well, I'd better start doing so from now on though. So, what made you want to become a cop?" Solar asked.

 

Moonbyul thought about what to answer for a few seconds. "I liked to play the shooting games at the arcade when I was a kid, plus, being a cop seemed like a cool thing. Y'know, catching bad guys and stuff. The uniform." Moonbyul shrugged, making Solar laugh at her answer, but her laughter soon died down as she sow the serious face of Moonbyul that clearly didn't understand why she was laughing.

 

"Oh my god, you're being serious. How even.. What kind of answer is that? Not something like," She cleared her throat, continuing in a deep voice, "I once saw an old lady getting robbed at the street and a rush of adrenaline went through me, it was time for justice. That's the day I decided on becoming a cop! Or something?"

 

"1. In what year are old ladies still getting robbed at the street. I once read an article of a lady that put an iron in her purse, and when some thug suddenly charged at her trying to steel it she just hit him on the head with her purse. I swear. It was crazy. Respect, old lady. 2. You've been reading way too many comics, Kim Yongsun. I just felt like it would be fun, so I decided to go for it. And here I am." Solar usually hated it when people called her by her real name, but she never wanted Moonbyul to stop saying it. A special Laundromat Obssessed Person privilege.

The beeping alarm from the washing machine went off, making Solar realize that hers went of about 5 minutes ago. She honestly completely forgot why she was at the Laundromat in the first place because of Moonbyul.

"Well then, see you next week Police Officer Moonbyul." Solar said, making Moonbyul chuckle.

 

"A promotion? I went from Laundromat Expert to Police Officer, nice. See you, Yongsun Holmes."

 

Yongsun Holmes? Seriously, this dork.


	3. The Coffee Machine

Solar had recently found a new drama she liked, a police drama television series. As for why she suddenly had taken an interest in police dramas? Take a guess.

You're probably right.

It was about a man called Hae-Young that worked as a criminal profiler and as a police lieutenant. Despite the fact that he's a cop himself, due to past experiences he didn't trust other cops. When Hae-Young was still in elementary school his classmate was kidnapped and later found dead. He saw a woman talking to the murdered kid earlier that day, but the police had announced that the suspect was a man. Even though Hae-Young declared that it wasn't a man but a woman and told them what he had seen, they didn't pay any attention to him. The killer was never caught and the case remained unsolved. In case you're interested, the name's Signal. Sounds kinda cool right? Solar watched the show, and as she put her laptop down while wiping a tear away from the corner of her eye she suddenly saw that it was already Sunday.

I thank my writing-skills for finding this kind of excuse to skip ahead again.

 

She had about 30 minutes left before it would be 7 PM, before Moonbyul would arrive at the laundromat, so she quickly started sorting and putting her laundry in the new plastic bags she bought. The black garbage bags were now replaced with white bags that looked slightly less hobo-ish, but the overall look they had still wasn't that much of an improvement to be honest. But it was better than the black bags though, so she just went with it.

With the laundry basket in her hand, plastic bags with laundry in it in the basket, she started to walk towards the laundromat.

The sky was extremely dark compared to yesterday, with not a single cloud in the sky. The crescent moon illuminated the dark sky with a light that looked like the mixture of white and blue, the bare sky decorated with countless bright stars. Moonstar. Solar chuckled.

When Solar was a kid she used to believe that the stars represent the souls of people that had passed away, it was such a beautiful thought that she chose to still think about stars that way.

The moon lost a star..

Anyways, if this were to be true, I bet the Polar star would be the soul from Santa. Makes sense right?

 

Solar started to smile as soon as she saw Moonbyul inside, busy with putting her laundry in the machine.

"Good evening." She softly said, careful not to scare Moonbyul that flinched anyways, making Solar laugh. This was certainly a trait she didn't expect.

"Holy sh- I swear you almost gave me a heart attack." She said while placing her hand on her chest.

Her own chest, pervs.

 

This time it was Solar's turn to flinch when Moonbyul suddenly loudly gasped.

"Yongsun! I almost forgot to tell you, look at this!" She said as she pointed at the coffee machine.

 

"What about it?"

 

"..Look at it. Come on, Yongsun Holmes. Even though you're a shitty detective you should notice something like this at least."

Solar squinted her eyes while looking at the machine. Did something change?

"Ah! The paper is gone?"

 

"Ting ting ting! This calls for a toast. Somehow your appearance at this laundromat made the owner repair the machine after all these years apparently."

 

"A toast with coffee?" She asked, making Moonbyul grin. "..I'm in."

They both walked towards the coffee machine, Moonbyul being the first one to reach for the button with a shaking hand. "Here it goes."

 

Click

..

..

"IT'S WORKING!!" They both screamed, obviously way too excited about this. "Extremely slowly but, it's better than nothing."

 

"Hey hey, don't be so greedy Yongsun. Coffee is coffee." Solar only now noticed that Moonbyul started calling her Yongsun instead of Kim Yongsun.

Once both of the paper cups were filled with coffee they both took their own cup, taking a seat on the high stools around the table.

 

"Well then, cheers!" The both of them raised their cups before taking a sip from the coffee. It tasted exactly like how they expected it to tast. What did they expect? Schweppes Water that tastes like it came from the sewer with a weak coffee flavor. Repairing a coffee machine still doesn't make it turn into a good machine, confirmed. Neither of them cared though, "coffee is coffee".

 

"About the owner, how do you think they are? Male, female?" Solar asked during her sips in.

Moonbyul looked at Solar for a while with a blank face before answering. Solar noticed this strange behavior but didn't think too much of it. "Mhm.. Maybe someone that already has a job, but made this laundromat to earn some money on the side? Male or female.. There aren't really any things here that could give us a hint about their gender I think."

 

Solar looked around. "I think it's a male."

 

"What makes you think so?" Moonbyul asked, followed by Solar pointing at the wall after thinking for a while.

 

"..Blue walls?"

 

"Stereotype much? I like blue too, but as far as I know I'm not a guy." Moonbyul said, laughing.

 

"Geez, I just kinda have the feeling that it's a male okay. You asked why so I just made some reason up."

 

"An extremely lame reason."

Solar's whining got interrupted by the sound of the alarm from both of their washing machines. As she stood up to put her laundry back in the laundry basket Moonbyul threw the empty cups that previously were filled with water from the sew- coffee, in the bin.

 

"I'll take my leave then, goodnight M.. Byul."

Byul raised her eyebrows teasingly when she heard how Solar had just called her, slowly breaking into a smile making her nose scrunch up while she saw the faint blush on Solar's cheeks.

 

"Goodnight, Yongsun."


	4. 2YGs

Solar tried to make a new dish as she wanted to improve her cooking skills. It's not that they were bad, but she just wanted to polish her cooking skills in case she had to cook for someone and wanted to impress them.

Aka Solar learning to cook to be a good future wife to a certain someone she may or may not have met at a certain place at the corner of her street.

 

Somehow the food ended up burning and breaking into a fire, but after the accident last time she learned to extinguish the fire without turning her apartment into a pool though.

What she tried to cook? A Cold Sandwich. With cheese, to be exact.

 

Also, in case you didn't notice, today's sunday. How about we pretend that the rest of the weekdays don't exist, I'm running out of excuses to skip ahead.

 

As she walked towards the laundromat a man suddenly stopped in front of her. He was wearing a leather jacket that covered most of his face, but thanks to the lanterns Solar saw a little bit of his face. He had a huge scar over his eye, and it looked like there was blood on his cheek. The man was staring at her face with a blank look while he reached for something in his pocket.

He suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed something into the palm of her hand.

"May the Lord be with you."

 

A coin. Solar just got mistaken for a hobo.

A moment of silence in honor of Solar please, thankyou.

 

Solar pushed the door open and entered the laundromat, where Moonbyul was already waiting.

"Yongsun, you have to tell me, what is your secret? You can open that heavy door so easily while it feels like I dislocated my shoulder everytime I finally manage to open in." Byul asked as soon as she entered.

 

"The door is that heavy?" She asked as she pushed the door open again to see how heavy it is. "Wow. Byul, for a cop you sure have noodle arms if you can't open this."

Receiving a whine from Moonbyul she started putting her laundry in the machine. Since when did she start to use 40-minute-programs instead of 30? And why?

 

"Ah! Yongsun, I wanted to try something." Solar averted her gaze from the machine and looked at Byul with a confused look, Byul clearing her throat before she continued talking.

 

"I bet those clothes look good on you," She said while pointing at Solar's laundry. "But I bet you look even better without them." Solar just started to sputter while cringing and feel her cheeks burning, she probably looked like a red tomato, making Moonbyul grin satisfiedly.

 

"W-What the actual, You, Oh my god, Byul, I swear you're greasy as hell, did a pick-up line like that even ever work before?" She finally managed to say, or more like stutter.

 

"Looking at your reaction I think it did."

 

"Can you unnies please stop with the greay stuff, we've been standing here for ages now, I almost puked."

Solar quickly turned around and saw two girls standing at the door behind them, they probably heard pretty much everything. This time it was Moonbyul's turn to turn bright red and start with stuttering. After a while she suddenly cleared her throat at turned to Solar again, trying to look less embarassed.

 

"Yongsun, these are my friends, Hwasa and Wheein." Solar, embarassed that she didn't notice them even though they were standing there for a pretty long time quickly bowed.

"Nice to meet the both of you, you can call me Solar if you'd like to." Byul snickered at how formal she sounded.

 

"Nice to meet you Solar-unnie! Byul told us a lot about you." The short girl with brown hair said. From the way she reminded Solar of a puppy she assumed this was Wheein, and the girl behind her with black hair was probably Hwasa, who was nodding the whole time before giving smirking at Moonbyul.

 

"Yah!! Don't tell her that?! No wait, shit, I mean, Yongsun please don't believe these two, they live to turn my life into a hell I swear." She said, sending a death glare at the both of them.

 

"Byul-ahhh, don't say that, you know you'd miss us if we weren't here~" Hwasa and Wheein both said with an extreme dose of aegyo, but Moonbyul just scoffed.

 

"Why are you guys here though? We didn't make any plans for today right?"

 

"Nope, but we wanted to meet Solar and it looked like you weren't planning on introducing us to her anytime soon."

 

"And, we brought food." Hwasa said, holding a white plastic bag up. Maybe she got a coin from the weird man earlier too.

 

"Hi, welcome, take a seat, I love you guys, let's eat."

 

"Wow, I'm hurt.. Our friendship is based on food.." Moonbyul just laughed, not even denying it as she was too busy with taking all the food out of the bag. There was chicken, that Hwasa immediately claimed, fried rice, several little dishes with vegetables, and tons of other stuff that made Solar wonder if they were able to eat all of this.

 

Realistically speaking, as a Mamamoo stan, they definitely can.

 

Hwasa and Wheein, who was wearing a bleach stained black t-shirt by the way, both looked at each other while smirking.

"Byulie-unnie, we're really sorry but what you wanted to eat wasn't on the menu so we bought some other things." Hwasa said. Moonbyul just looked at them questioning, she didn't tell them what she wanted to eat today though?

 

"Y'know, So-"

"SOLLONGTANG RICE BEEF NOODLE SOUP AH YES THAT'S TOO BAD BUT AH WELL." The two girls burst into laughter as Byul hastily replied before stuffing her mouth full with food. Solar laughed too, it was nice to see how Byul acted around her friends. She didn't exactly understand what Hwasa meant though.

Solar treated everyone to coffee, using the coin she got from the man, which resulted in Hwasa and Wheein both spitting out their coffee and asking how they were able to drink it even though it tasted like it came straight from the sewers. Moonbyul and Solar both defended their coffee by saying that they just had to get used to it, even though they both didn't specifically like it either. It just became a special thing for the both of them, kinda.

 

The rest of the dinner was spend silently eating their food, although Wheein and Hwasa both sometimes started to sing out of nowhere, or when Hwasa started to poke Wheein with her chopsticks, in the eye to be exact, when she tried to steal her chicken. During their chopstick fight Moonbyul managed to steal a little piece of chicken, receiving a high five from Wheein and a glare from Hwasa. Later on Hwasa offered some chicken to Solar though, making the other two act hurt. Solar definitely knew what Moonbyul meant when she said her friends are amazing, and she was happy to see that Moonbyul found such good friends.

By the time the beeping alarm from the washing machine went off they already had finished their food and were talking about random things, including stories about embarassing things Moonbyul did in the past, making her red and whine which didn't seem to stop the two girls from talking though.

 

"This means that you guys will go home right?" Yongsun and Moonbyul nodded. "We'll go too then."

Soon the four of them were standing outside of the laundromat, Solar holding her laundry basket and saying goodbye to everyone. Moonbyul started to complain to Hwasa as soon as they walked the other way, probably about what's been said, while hitting Hwasa against her arm which soon resulted into Hwasa holding her in a headlock. Solar was right about Moonbyul having noodle arms.

 

"Solar-unnie?" A voice behind her suddenly said as she was walking back to her apartment. She turned around and saw Wheein.

 

"Yes?"

 

"Ah, it's nothing important but I just quickly wanted to say this to you before you leave. Even though we joked about it, you really are special to Byul. I know this as her friend, it's been a long time since she let something get that close to her. Well, after what happened."

Solar felt her heart flutter because of what Wheein said, but the last part confused her.

"Before what happened?"

 

"..I don't think I'm the right person to tell you about it."


	5. The Laundromat's Secret

As expected, Solar wasn’t able to catch any sleep due to what Wheein said. What did she mean?

To tell her about what? Was Byul keeping something from her?

 

She felt stupid to care so much about it, it’s not like Moonbyul was obligated to tell her about something she didn’t want to say. She probably had a good reason. And, even though Solar didn’t like to think like that, the two of them were just two people that had met in a Laundromat. Their conversations only lasted for a good 30 minutes, lately 40, but it’s not like they ever met up somewhere other than at the Laundromat. For all she knew Moonbyul could even be a serial killer, not that she’d be able to kill someone with those noodle arms of her though.

Solar realized that she was over exaggerating of course. Byul had always answered every question she asked, it was like they had nothing to hide from each other. Even in this short time Solar was sure that they weren’t just friends. Or well, she felt like that at least. Friends just didn’t seem to be the right word for the both of them. Instead of friends she felt like they were more like.. Sisters Soulmates?

She felt herself blushing as she said that word. Maybe she should just ask Moonbyul about it.

 

This was what kept Solar up every night, as the scene of Wheein standing there saying those words with that sad look in her eyes replayed every time she tried to close her eyes.

 

Soon Sunday arrived, the day Solar would ask Moonbyul what Wheein meant.

She slowly walked towards the Laundromat, careful of not being seen by anyone since she didn’t want to get mistaken as a hobo again, and tried to tell her heart to calm down as she got closer and closer to the corner of the street. As soon as she saw Moonbyul sitting on one of the high stools playing with her fingers she let out a high yelp, quickly stepping back and resting her back against the wall of the house next to the Laundromat.

 

She had to ask her.

 

Solar pushed the door open and looked up at Moonbyul, who was smiling at her as she entered.

“Sorry for my friends, they can be quite.. Overwhelming.”

 

“Ah, no, it’s okay, they’re fun.” Solar said, trying to sound normal even though she felt incredibly nervous. Byul probably noticed the nervousness in her voice, but decided not to say anything about it.

 

“..Yongsun are you just going to keep standing there or do your laundry?”

@#*!<$é Right, good job Solar.

 

As she was quickly putting her laundry in the machine she felt Moonbyul’s eyes glued to her back. Even though she really wanted to ask her she couldn’t bring herself to do it, every time she tried to bring out a word it just got stuck in the back of her throat. Right when she finally gathered all the courage she could and opened her mouth to say something, Moonbyul said something.

“Is there something on your mind?” She asked.

 

“What? N-No, it’s just, I, you know.”

 

“Yongsun please. It’s really obvious, can you tell me please?”

 

Solar felt terrible for making Moonbyul worried about her, which was evident in the tone of her voice which sounded almost pleading.

“..Wheein told me about something. Well, no, she didn’t exactly tell me, more like.. She hinted at something?”

 

Silence.

 

“I see.”

 

Solar messed up, didn’t she? It was obvious this was something she wasn’t supposed to talk about, she should have listened to that little voice inside of her, that little voice that made her so anxious to bring this subject up.

 

Moonbyul suddenly chuckled, making Solar flinch and snap her head at her.

“Relax, it’s fine. She probably told you about something from the past, didn’t she?” Solar didn’t open her mouth, she just nodded.

 

“Ah geez, that brat.” Byul clicked her tongue. “Yongsun, come sit here.” She said as she patted the seat beside her, making Solar take a seat on the high stool next to her.

 

“Look, I’m not keeping things from you, I knew I’d have to tell you about this sooner or later but I never really had the chance to.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “This place.. Belonged to a friend of mine. Her name’s Krystal. I was head over heels for her, she made me look forward to something every way, paying a visit to this Laundromat. Our happiness didn’t last long though, she..” Byul stopped talking, and just looked at her.

 

She passed away.

 

“Her last wish was for me to take this place over, to “meet someone as perfect as she was able to meet here” “. Moonbyul chuckled. A sad chuckle, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. “You don’t even want to know how mad I got at her when she said that. I didn’t visit her for two weeks. Two whole weeks. By the time I went back and asked if I could see her they told me.. They told me she..”

As Moonbyul broke down into tears Solar wrapped her arms around her, letting her head rest on her shoulder as she cried, making loud sobbing noises. She gently caressed the back of her head.  Even though Solar felt terrible for making her say this and bring up all the pain again, after being locked way for so long. At the same time she also felt incredibly proud of her though, for being able to tell her this. Something she probably never wanted to think of again.

 

“You know, I hated this place. I hated it so much. At one point I even thought of burning it down, so I’d just never have to see it again in my life. Everything here reminded me of her, little things she left behind, residues of her existence lurking in every corner. I painted the walls again. Tried to get rid of everything she left behind.. But no matter how much I tried, it didn’t work. I never stopped coming though. To fulfill the thing she wanted me to do, to take this place over. Every week, I came here to do my laundry. It’s not that I didn’t have enough money to buy a washing machine myself, I just didn’t buy it so I’d have an excuse to come to this place. I still use that excuse.”

 

She regained her composure and wiped a tear that was rolling down her cheek away.

“When they told me Krystal had passed away I felt my world shatter. She always called me Moonstar, but at that time I felt like the moon had lost her star.”

 

“But you know.. I think the Moon found a new star, one that people call Sun.”

 

At that point Solar couldn’t stop her own tears anymore either, and even though Byul had just stopped crying she started to cry again thanks to Solar, both of them sitting there, hands intertwined.

 

 

Solar finally knew that the feelings were mutual.


	6. The Place Where It All Began

Even though a few days had already passed, Solar still couldn’t believe it. That day they both stayed longer than usual at the laundromat, since Solar wasn’t planning on leaving before she saw that Moonbyul didn’t feel the need to cry anymore.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m not crying anymore.” Byul said when Solar wiped her tears away with her hand.

 

“You clearly are, stop lying when I’m literally right in front of you, able to see it.”

 

“But these aren’t sad tears, these are happy tears.” She explained.

 

“Happy tears? Because you basically just confessed? Might I add in a really cheesy way.”

 

“Yah! Do you even know how long I tought about how to say it? I stayed up whole night thinking about it, plus, I knew that Wheein told you about everything when she suddenly returned with that sad look in her eyes, so I also had to think about how I’d explain that whole story to you.”

 

“I’m grateful to wheein though. If she didn’t tell me.. I don’t know how long it would have taken before well, you know.” Solar said, a faint blush on her cheeks. Moonbyul laughed, her nose scrunching up again. Even though this was only the second time she saw Moonbyul’s nose muscles doing it, it made her smile everytime she saw it.

 

“Hey, don’t laugh with my nose muscles.” Byul said, pouting.

 

“Don’t worry, it’s cute.” Solar said as she jumped off the high stool, putting her laundry in her laundry basket. As she turned around, not noticing that Byul was almost standing against her, she suddenly felt a pair of lips against her own.

 

“??!”

 

“..Oops, sorry, I didn’t expect you to suddenly turn around..”

 

“Byul. That was my first kiss and it happened by accident.”

 

“..Yeah, sorry.. I thought you realized I was standing here, sorry..”

 

“Geez, stop apologizing and kiss me for real then to make up for it.” Solar suddenly said as she snaked an arm around Moonbyul’s slender waist, slowly pulling her closer as she brushed her hair away until her own lips touched the soft pair of the taller girl, this time intentionally.

 

 

Just remembering it made Solar’s face turn bright red, to say she was excited to see Moonbyul again was an understatement. So many things happened these few weeks, at a place she definitely didn’t expect to happen. What if instead of Moonbyul some kind of old guy always went to that place?

What if Eric Nam

 

It was finally Sunday, the week never went by that slowly before. Even though Solar tried to binge watch a new kdrama again she kept remembering that day and just started to flail her arms and legs around, looking like a fangirling teenager. Well, she was definitely a fan of Moonbyul.

She quickly put her laundry in the white plastic bags, put them afterwards in the laundry basket, and quickly started to walk towards the Laundromat. It was still a little bit before 7 PM, so there was no sight of Moonbyul yet. And it stayed that way until Solar’s phone showed that it was already 19:27.

Solar sighed, she knew Moonbyul wouldn’t just drop her after everything that happened but she was still sad that she didn’t come. As she sat on one of the stools she suddenly heard the heavy door open.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Byul?” Solar turned around and saw Moonbyul standing in the door, panting. She suddenly noticed that Moonbyul didn’t have her laundry with her, what was going on? “Where were you?”

 

“Sorry, I was busy with fixing some things at home and didn’t notice how late it had gotten. This place..” Byul started to walk around, letting her finger slide over the wood from the table. “I’m going to close it. For good.”

 

“Wait, what??” Solar didn’t understand, at all.

 

“Well, remember everything I told you yesterday?” She nodded. “I wasn’t able to say goodbye to this place. To Krystal. But I think.. I’m finally able to move on.” Moonbyul smiled at Solar, which was still sitting at the high stool, shocked but at the same time incredibly happy that this was how Moonbyul felt.

Wait. Where was Solar supposed to do her laundry then??

 

“Don’t worry about your laundry, I bought a washing machine. That’s why I was so late. You can do it at my apartment if you want to.”

 

“Aishhh, my standards..”

 

“Your standards? Solar, I’ve seen everything already from your laundry, don’t start about your so called standards. Plus, what better excuse is there to ask a cute girl to come to my house by bribing her with my new washing machine, right?”

 

Solar felt her cheeks burning as Moonbyul said that so naturally. “Why did I even fall in love with such a giant cheeseball, I can’t believe myself honestly.” She said as she shook her head.

 

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” Byul said, smiling as her ears turned bright red, something that Solar immediately noticed, making her feel victorious as she made the oh-so-smooth Byul blush.

 

And well, the two ended up going to Byul’s house, both holding Solar’s laundry.

And the next weeks, the amount of laundry she brought over kept getting smaller and smaller, until one day, she didn’t even bring any laundry anymore.

 

Who would have thought that place Solar absolutely didn’t want to go to at first would have become such an important place to the both of them? That place where it all began.

 

The Laundromat at the corner of the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to post this on AO3 after it has been up on AFF for more than a year!  
> This was my original A/N, it's quite.. emotional.
> 
> "A/N: AHHH OH MY GOD I CAN'T EVEN START WITH TELLING YOU GUYS ABOUT HOW GRATEFUL I AM TO EVERYONE THAT KEPT SUPPORTING ME AND TO ALL THE READERS OF THIS STORY BLESS YOU ALL
> 
> I'll stop yelling now. But no, seriously, I know i shouldn't get this emotional but again, thankyou everyone. I really hoped you guys liked this story, and that the ending was what you guys expected. I really enjoyed writing every single chapter, and it kinda hurts to see it ending now, even though this was just a short story. I'm possibly going to write more light-hearted short stories like this, but this one definitely deserves a special place in my heart :')
> 
> Again! Thank you all so much, I legit love all of you *crying*!
> 
>  
> 
> Thankyou for visiting The Laundromat at the Corner of the Street! And hopefully I'll see you guys on a next story~"


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